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Plano West baseball fans wore shirts Saturday that read "28 straight" on the front and "A date with state" on the back.

Fortunately for Plano West, the streak is now at 30. Unfortunately, 30 consecutive victories haven't earned Plano West anything more than a place in the Class 5A area round.

The same goes for Rowlett, which finished the regular season undefeated before surviving a mighty scare in its bi-district matchup with Plano East.

What Plano West and Rowlett do have is the knowledge that their combined undefeated regular season probably won't be duplicated for many years.

MIKE STONE / Special to DMN

Jason Coats (24) and his Plano West teammates have had 30 consecutive reasons to celebrate this season.

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Consider: Not since Duncanville went 28-0 in 1993 had an area 4A or 5A baseball team finished the regular season unbeaten. After 14 seasons with no undefeated teams, suddenly there are two in the same year.

Yes, Plano West would be 29-1 if Southlake Carroll hadn't used an ineligible player back in March. But it's still an impressive feat.

"I didn't really think about going undefeated," Plano West coach Kendall Clark said Saturday. "We just took the games one at a time and tried to win them all."

"I've really never experienced anything like this," Rowlett coach Paul Carmon said last week, before his team's series against Plano East. "Everything just went our way."

It has to for a baseball team to finish its schedule undefeated. Baseball features bad hops, freak plays and mediocre teams that have one star pitcher who can win a game virtually on his own. Plano West and Rowlett bucked the odds to enter the playoffs on an incredible roll.

And that has created hope that the area's baseball drought – no 5A teams reaching state since 2005 and no state titles at any level since 2002 – would end this season.

Then came this weekend. Plano West, a little rusty after an 11-day layoff, got a good test from South Garland. After winning Game 1 of the best-of-3 series, Plano West held off a late rally to win the clincher, 7-6.

It was much tougher for Rowlett (29-1-2), which lost the opener of its series and trailed Plano East, 5-1, in Game 2 before rallying for a 7-6 win. Rowlett won an 18-14 slugfest in Game 3.

For a team that batted .373 this season and committed the fewest errors in team history, it was a tense first round. But as Carmon said last week, his team "just finds a way to win."

Duncanville did the same thing in '93. Until, that is, the nation's top-ranked team lost to Arlington Martin in the area round.

The area round is the next stop for Plano West and Rowlett. And if that's their last stop, the undefeated regular seasons might not be remembered long.

"We're looking for a state trip," Plano West second baseman Kale Kiser said. "Anything less will be a disappointment."